New York magazine's NYC news, culture, and events site covering the New York City neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, East Village, Lower East Side, LES

Shortly before Sonic Youth’s Dirty was released 23 years ago this week, their record label printed up T-shirts declaring it the “Sonic Summer” of 1992. That’s how confident Geffen was that the so-called “godfathers of grunge” were about to follow in the footsteps of Nirvana’s game-changing Nevermind. After all, Nirvana had just opened for Sonic Youth, as seen in Dave Markey’s awesome tour documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke. And Sonic Youth was overdue for a breakthrough, having cemented their indie-darling status with masterpieces like Daydream Nation and blipped on the pop-cultural radar with “Kool Thing.” After a solid decade of reinventing rock with ethereal, eccentrically tuned guitars and howling drumstick-on-strings mayhem, who deserved it more: Stone Temple Pilots?

A woman sitting on a bench outside the Riis Houses in the East Village on Wednesday night was shot in both feet as two men argued nearby. Police are searching for the shooter and the woman was treated at Bellevue Hospital. [NY Daily News]

Artist Bryan Osburn wound up with multiple lacerations and a shattered jaw when he was attacked by four men on his way home from his Greenpoint studio Friday evening. [NY Observer]

On July 14, a thief stole 11 laptops from VICE‘s office at S. Second Street and Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. [Brooklyn Paper]

Passing by Moishe’s Bake Shop this week, we were delighted to see that after a few months of going relatively incognito, the East Village institution has finally gotten a new sign. But we couldn’t help but wonder, as fans of such things, about its lovably dilapidated original signage. Is it now in safe keeping, a la Kim’s Video? We asked owner Moishe Perlmutter, who told us the last thing we wanted to hear.

Ludlow Studios was packed to the brim with people for the private one-night only event to celebrate and ogle Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett’s art work. The crowd included everyone from stylish hip kids furtively scanning the room for Barnett’s messy brown mane to appear somewhere in the crowd, loafers who weren’t sure exactly what all the hoopla and video cameras were all about but knew for certain there were infinite free mezcal cocktails to be guzzled, and the nearing-the-top-of-the-hills sponging around to see what the kids are into these days. I’m not old, but this event made me feel old, particularly because up until I heard word of this event, I had no idea who Courtney Barnett was.

Meet the faces behind some of your favorite TV shows at Real Characters, a regular series hosted by Andy Ross (contributor to The Onion and writer and performer of the one man show “Melancomedy”) featuring some of New York’s best humor writers, stand-ups and performers. This month’s lineup includes Bruce Eric Kaplan (Girls, The New Yorker, author of I Was a Child: A Memoir), Allison Silverman (The Colbert Report, Portlandia, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Issac Oliver (Ars Nova Theater, author of Intimacy Idiot) and Sandi Marx (The Moth).Wednesday, July 22 at 7 p.m. McNally Jackson Independent Booksellers, 52 Prince Street (Soho).

She likes the nightlife, baby, so it’s no surprise that Caitlyn Jenner has inspired some new cocktails.

Have a look at the drinks menu that Williamsburg’s Trophy Bar launched this week and right under the Paris Is Byrrhning you’ll see a Call Me Caitlyn, consisting of gin, egg white, absinthe, and lemon juice.

A 25-year-old Hispanic man riding his bike through Greenpoint Sunday was attacked by two white men in what police are calling a possible hate crime. [News 12 Brooklyn]

On Thursday a man was treated at Bellevue Hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg he suffered by a runaway assailant near Ten Eyck Walk in Williamsburg. Meanwhile, three days later, a tanning woman had her purse stolen from her Marcy Avenue rooftop. [Brooklyn Paper]

Zegarmistrz Watchmaker Service was evicted from its Manhattan Avenue storefront one week ago after 26 years in Greenpoint. [Gothamist]

The law has spoken: leggings are not pants and the sidewalks of New York are not your yoga mat. So toss out the athleisure wear and take advantage of these two shopping opportunities.

The Vintage Twin NYC Pop-Up ShopJuly 22 to 29 at 42B W. 14th St., Union Square
Morgan and Samantha Elias, the titular twins who operate this roving vintage shop, usually pop up in the slim space at 355A Bowery, but this time they’re slipping into something a little more comfortable. “It’s going to look like we took over a vacated Gap store,” Morgan promises of their larger space on West 14th Street. But don’t expect plain-Jane, off-the-rack designs: The Eliases buy ’60s-to-’90s pieces from estate sales and then adapt them by, say, turning a gown into a short skirt, or sewing a section of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bedsheets onto a denim jacket. Plus, we’re told a “jean-ius” will be on hand at a “denim bar” to size each customer for the perfect fit of Levi 501s or Wranglers.

Gigawatts Fest is happening this weekend, which is great and all — I need my pop fix as much as the next guy. But sometimes I want to be surrounded by sounds that whinge, “I’mmmmmmm differentttttt.” If that’s you, too, get thee to these smaller shows where you’ll find acts that don’t exactly qualify as festival material, if you catch my drift.

It’s July 21, 2015: do you know where the members of Sonic Youth are? Alas, there’s still no sign of a “fare thee well” show with a giant SY blimp and fireworks (paging Peter Shapiro), but here’s the next best thing: Thurston, Kim, and Lee have a bunch of local shows coming up, some of them freeeee.

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About B + B

Bedford + Bowery is where downtown Manhattan and north Brooklyn intersect. Produced by NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute in collaboration with New York magazine, B + B covers the East Village, Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, and beyond. Want to contribute? Send a tip? E-mail the editor.